Washington Capitals fans in a large swath of the DC area will have to pay more to watch the team this regular season, as the tier Monumental Sports Network, carried on Comcast cable, is changing to a pricier option than when the network was branded Comcast SportsNet, the Washington Post reported.
Comcast, the largest cable company in the United States, has wired most of the jurisdictions in the Washington area, including the District itself, as well as Montgomery, Prince George’s Counties in Maryland and the City of Alexandria as well as Arlington, Prince William and Loudoun Counties in Virginia, among others further away in the market, is placing the network, which carries the Caps, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, WNBA’s Washington Mystics and other events on its top Ultimate tier, which in the District, costs over $25 more a month than the previous home of Monumental, the Popular tier, come next month.
The move should come as no surprise to people seeing the shifting movement of regional sports networks, as the co-branded name Comcast SportsNet disappeared in 2023 with the change to Monumental and more control by the teams themselves, as well as the other regional sports network in the area, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, was shifted to the higher-priced tier last year.
And, of course, the programming for Monumental could change dramatically in the next few months as Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals can explore new television partners after this season, with their temporary one-year contract with MASN expiring, with the leading candidate to take over their broadcasts next season seemingly being Monumental, barring a shift. It’s also possible that both the Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles could migrate over, but this would largely depend on whether MASN feels it can go it alone with just the Orioles as its lone major property, given that the economics of regional sports networks in general are no longer a driver of revenue as they once were.
Leonsis Buying Nats?
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has been named a possible buyer for the MLB team with the Lerner family exploring a sale off and on for years, but hasn’t met the Lerner’s asking price. But certainly adding the Nationals (and possibly Orioles) helps raise Monumental’s profile and offer a year-round program.
Certainly it’s come a long way since the Capitals were the first event on Home Team Sports, the forerunner of Monumental, in April of 1984, breaking from local broadcast coverage on WDCA for half the team’s road games per season in addition to occasional national broadcasts, to one now that has almost every preseason and the entire regular season game on local cable, national networks or streaming for all 82 games. When HTS was first introduced, it was largely a paid add-on, but eventually migrated into the broader cable tiers, particularly when Comcast acquired a controlling share in 2000 and rebranded as Comcast SportsNet a year later.
But, with cord-cutting on the rise and the per-subscriber revenue dropping accordingly, a number of sports networks are moving back into their premium tier status, and now Monumental is no exception. And, the one casualty of the move is that with less availability, the ratings for Capitals games are more likely to decline, with fewer subscribers having the option to watch games, no matter the team’s performance.
The network does offer its own streaming option for $19.99 a month, which allows fans who cut the cord the option to watch the games Monumental produces via streaming. While the new local broadcast schedule has not been released yet, last season Monumental announced they would be broadcasting 6 preseason games and 69 regular-season games, which is likely similar to this year’s offerings as the Capitals figure to still have prominent national TV coverage even with the Alex Ovechkin goal chase concluded.
Certainly, with the team’s ownership group in charge of Monumental Sports Network, the team isn’t going anywhere on cable, but certainly the look and availability of Monumental Sports Network will change – potentially dramatically – before this new season is over.
